About Breast Cancer

The American Cancer Society is the leader in the fight to end breast cancer:

We invest more in breast cancer research than any other cancer type - to find, prevent, treat, and cure the disease.

We're in every community providing free information and services to
people fighting the disease. Today, one in every two women newly
diagnosed with breast cancer turns to us for help and support.

We have helped more than 4 million women get potentially lifesaving breast cancer screening tests.

Breast cancer
is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than
skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women,
after lung cancer.

The chance of a woman having invasive breast
cancer some time during her life is a little less 1 in 8. The chance of
dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 36. Breast cancer death rates
have been going down. This is probably the result of finding the cancer
earlier and better treatment. Right now there are more than 2½ million
breast cancer survivors in the United States.

For more information about breast cancer, how to find it early, and how to join the fight to end the disease, visit cancer.org/fightbreastcancer or contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 anytime, day or night.

The following steps can help you stay well and improve your odds against breast cancer.

The earlier breast cancer is found, the better. Sign up for our breast cancer screening reminder
and we’ll remind you when it’s based on our early detection guidelines.
If you are 40 or older, get a mammogram and breast exam every year and
report any breast changes to your doctor right away.

You can help reduce your breast cancer risk by maintaining a healthy
weight throughout life, being physically active on a regular basis (at
least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous
intensity activity each week) and limiting alcohol intake to less than 1
drink each day for women (2 drinks for men).